Things of snobbery were simple then but their effect on people and their surroundings didn’t change much as I grew older. In high school, snobbery took a more leaden weight as imported snacks and toys were replaced by who had the better car, coolest boyfriend, chicest set of friends, cigarette intake, party invites and most fight outfits. In high school it was all about Polo Ralph Lauren T-shirts in P.E. class, Rolex watches on 14-year-olds, LV petite noe bags, carrying school books with boyfriends who reeked of Davidoff Cool Waters. However, that is also nothing compared to the real world snobbery that is ineluctably crossed by members of the social order.
Although it seems still very common to be casually asked about your background by people who you’ve just met ("Who’s your father?"), snobbery is now more indirect but nonetheless as obtrusive. Joseph Epstein comments in his book Snobbery: The American Version: "It used to be who you were, then it was what you did, then it was what you had, then it was who you knew and now it’s beginning to be how many people know you." In Snobbery the Filipino Version – the influx of paparazzimania and obsession with celebrity, being a bold facer no matter what your provenance is seals the deal. In the past, the blueness of one’s blood was the only key that opened doors to a select few. Today, however, with meritocracy being the hip structure of the new society – one’s papers are simply not enough to get you in the establishment. In today’s so-called egalitarian society, modern snobbery has taken in new recruits.
The Philippines, deeply embedded in tradition, still embraces the buena familia snob mentality (much like Aristocratic Brits and WASP-y Americans). Although it is much more circumspect and subtle, the studying of family trees and alliances by marriage is still a favorite afternoon pastime of many WASPs (as my friend Miguel calls them "Wishing Anglo-Saxon Pinoy"). The most entertaining part in this rather tedious ho-hum antiquated branch of snobbery is the old rich versus the new rich (the economic snob). The old rich (mostly all are broke now) maintain that the new rich cannot buy class. The new rich astutely sniff jealousy and look at nothing but net worth. Whereas the scandals of the old rich are called acts of eccentricities, scandals of the new rich are simply crass. But this is boring and simply the kernel of haughtiness.
Today there are many circles in modern society ready to discriminate you. From the hip trend snobs (those who look down on anyone who still wears last decades black nylon Prada bags or still hangs out in last year’s residue hot spot), the food snobs ( those who slam any restaurant that doesn’t feed them for free – just kidding), the wine snobs (those who slam any bottle that doesn’t cost a year’s worth of college tuition), health snob (oh you don’t do yoga/Pilates/ Strip Aero/ ...silence), country club snob (need I explain more?), the intellectual snobs ("I dont hate stupid people – I just don’t talk to them), educational snobs (You have to marry him! He went to HARVARD!) to the anti-snob snob (snobs suck period) to the snob’s snob (Who are they to snob? Only I can do that! EX: Leona Helmsley’s famous taray quip: Only little people pay taxes!) – all of which are also described at length in Epstein’s study on the practice.
Here in the Philippines, despite the anemic peso and disasters all around, snobbery is still very healthy in any demographic scale. Is it true that there is a bit (if not a lot) of snob in everybody? We all have our preferences, but its excesses can be uber-annoying and it’s time to page the empress dowager snob to kick their asses. Anti-snob snobs are still, well, snobs in some respect, as Albert Camus states: "It’s a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money."
There are snobs of different levels, and the higher they are the less enjoyment they get from their pretentious lifestyles because of their rigid set of standards. "Statusticians" as Epstein describes the snobs deluxe, are those who spend their days climbing the social ladder "...to play up to those above him in the social ladder and keep himself ahead of those below." It’s as if a person’s worth is measured by what he has and knows. Fitzgerald has often used statisticians as lead characters in most of his books (Daisy Buchanan in Gatsby and Anthony Patch in The Beautiful and Damned). Being a bit of a snob himself, Fitzgerald was one of the golden statisticians of all time, dancing from one snobbery to the next (celeb quotient, money, clothes, intellectual, being an anti-snob snob and, of course, booze).
Reading about snobbery can be fun due to its farcical and irritating nature. Bret Easton Ellis is my favorite "snobgrapher" as he narrates the dark side of luxe snobbery in his tales such as American Psycho, Glamorama, Rules of Attraction and Less than Zero. His novels are name-dropping bibles of the times as he enumerates the best neighborhood (to drink, visit or live in) to the best face scrub to the coolest song of the time. That is what modern snobbery really is, the casual (but rigorous) art of namedropping. A seasoned turn of the millennium snob will casually mention a name or place that garners bold-faced captions in anything that matters. After all it‘s very unhip to be excited nowadays for professional snobs. Of course, he or she says this with a low but loud voice that breathes of nonchalance and affectation. When the old families were forced to feel guilty about being historically wealthy – they gave stuff to charity. You would think this has disappeared, but on the contrary it has even multiplied! Now anyone is declared a socialite or a rising star in any field. The severe guards of society relaxed and snobbery became fair game to all!
The chartered members to modern snobbery are not as heavy as the founding fathers such as the buena familia snobs and economic snobs – these can be quite funny granted you are not a humor snob (all stick in the mud people who take themselves too seriously). I, for example am a geometric snob, I hate squares. Anti-vanilla – that’s me! I like naughty and shady people, who bark off lewd jokes at inappropriate moments. Anyone who blushes at the tinkle of a green joke is weak in my list. My other friend, a sort of style snob, met the perfect guy. Smart, interesting and a little funny, she introduced her man to her best friend with a heavy heart. When my best friend asked (OK it’s me again OK! I’m a well-rounded snob) "What’s wrong with you, he’s perfect!" I just told him "Joel, I can’t take his pants." My friend Joel looked at me incredulously and said ,"You would screw this up because of his pants?" Afraid but still full of conviction I stared at him with a strong gaze. He relented and sighed, "Yeah, I know what you mean." I have another friend who is what you call an ex-snob. She passed up on a perfectly good catch because he had a yucky ex. Another one sort of a hip snob, when contemplating on her newest love interest she said earnestly, "He’s OK but how do I bring him to Orange? (when orange was still around)" OK you’re thinking what trite, shallow individuals we all are. But don’t tell me you never caught yourself with an embarassing snoot episode in the past. This is the reason why you only admit this to your closest of friends.
Being a snob is like having STD. It’s there, it’s highly infective but it’s too uncomfortable to talk about. In the Philippines only a few will admit to being snobs especially because there’s nothing more pathetic than a third-world snob. But it is evident in how everyone’s worth gets measured and assessed. Some hide it with pretentious acts like acting hard to be charitable in public but being major jerks to their help at home. Some (especially the broke old rich) say that real class is not flashy, thus snub the bling-bling lifestyle. Some who have no more steps to climb, either snub snobbery (the anti-snob snob) and behave above it all in major fight style or just snub all the snobs. Then there are the snob snobs who hate anything that has to do with anything luxe because they have been rejected, burned out or are simple sick of this materialistic society. There are the minion snobs who lick all the right asses and step on any upstart below them in the ladder.
Whatever it is, snobbery is really just the manifestation of people’s insecurities or intense dislikes. Trying to latch on to something or believing in some sort of false or feigned superiority to assert one’s worth. Snobbery can also be found in humility itself (remember the anti-snobbery snob). With the new strain of snobs today – there is every reason to be a snob but not to snub a snob! They are everywhere after all!